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Let me clarify my position. I have spent a thisload of money on my riding gear. My wife and I have summer and cooler weather gear. I have an Arai helmet because it fit the best. I love the airflow jacket and pants. What I am saying is I hated spending so much because in my mind I keep thinking I could get as much safety, fit, style and comfort for less money. All that money could have been spent on something really important......like BEER!

Let me clarify my position. I have spent a thisload of money on my riding gear. My wife and I have summer and cooler weather gear. I have an Arai helmet because it fit the best. I love the airflow jacket and pants. What I am saying is I hated spending so much because in my mind I keep thinking I could get as much safety, fit, style and comfort for less money. All that money could have been spent on something really important......like BEER!

Kelly

Maybe you could've gotten the same protection for less money. Chinese or Pakistani goods can be made more cheaply than European goods. A lot of people fall off motorcycles wearing "cheap" gear and are able to crow about how they were unhurt...great news. I am happy to buy what I consider the "best available gear," regardless of cost.

Just as insurance is a cost of motorcycle ownership, safety gear is, too. Where I live, a simple ambulance response/ride averages $1,200. A ride in a helicopter is almost four times that much. If you get to ride in either vehicle, those costs are the starting point. All that gear may not save you the ride, but it sure can save a lot of the subsequent costs, not to mention the pain and rehabilitation.

My suit and boots cost about $1800, several years ago (the suit now runs a couple grand, I think). In my case that works out to about 4 cents per mile...so far. The suit should last indefinitely, assuming no crashes and no significant weight change.

Regarding WHY the costs are so high, consider that the clothing is very complex, with perhaps several different layers, perhaps as many as five different types of cloth (talking textile, obviously), is designed to be not only protective but comfortable, often with temperature ranges from the 30s to over 100 degrees, all the while attempting to look reasonably "normal" or fashionable, yet is perhaps one of the lowest-volume-production clothing items one can think of. No wonder it's expensive.

Then of course there is the armor. Poorly made armor can fail to protect, or worse, even injure in a crash...the latter happened to me in a not-very-expensive leather track suit a few years ago.

MarkGoodrich, You can get almost anything for less money if it is made outside of the USA or Canada. Our costs to make things are way out of line. That is why a lot of the manufacturering is moving off shore. We all want to pay as little as possible for whatever we buy, but want the best possible quality there is. Hmm, that just does not always work out. But on the otherhand, some things made in less labour expensive countries is actually pretty damn good stuff.

You say you paid $1800 for Boots and riding suit. Me thinks you got ripped. But that is just my honest opinion. I see no reason to spend that kind of money when I can purchase what works for much less. I don't really care about style so much as function. If it works and it fits, and the price is reasonable, then I might buy it. When I am riding, it is all about the riding. I am not in any fashion show. Hell, they would boo and shove me off the catwalk.

Think of safety gear as just that. Would the welder really care if his leather gloves were made by Watson or Armani? Hmm, just think about that for a moment. Watson gloves are tried and true, known to be a good quality heavy duty leather glove that will protect the hand just fine. But Armani is stylish.

If you feel better spending over $2000 for your riding gear, feeling that is better than spending less than $1000. Great. It really does not matter to me. I would rather take the other $1000 and put it in the tank and ride. 40+ years of riding, numerous spills over the years including on the race track. Only hospitalized once in all those years and that was from a crash at well over 100MPH on the track. Never spent that kind of money on riding gear and never will.

Purolator Make excellent oil filters. Depending on the model you have, you can usually get your local NAPA auto parts store to order them in on their next shipment of filters. Tell them you will buy 6 at a time and you will usually get and even better deal. The ones for my R100RT have a part number of ML16826 and the last batch of 6 cost me $60 last spring. So $10 each.

I also get my oil there. I run Castrol Grand Prix Motorcycle oil with an SG rating. Usual cost is around $35 for a case of 12 litre bottles. Gives me enough to change oil in all the bikes and a few left over for the next round.

So figuring out the math, oil changes cost me less than $20 for each bike plus a little of my time.

Atgatt

I saw that on a Big Bad Harley rider a few years ago. You all know the type. Big ape hanger bars, skull and crossbones, beany cap for a helmet, greasy looking leather jacket with a big "patch" on the back, and chaps with fringes. Both he and his girlfriend wore out the seat of their jeans. I almost lost it, I was laughing so hard inside my helmet. I stopped to see if they needed any ass-istance, but they said that friends were following shortly. Just as I was leaving I saw a few of their friends roar up and they got off laughing at them. Just made my day.

I think what he means is once he realized that there was no serious injury he thought it was funny, as do I. I am often puzzled by the full body suit of leather with the doo rag. Does the doo rag help with road rash. I also find humor in the idiots of the world. Yes I said it "If you choose to ride a bike without the proper protective gear you are an Idiot!"

You sure will not catch me on the streets of Baghdad without my equipment.

1) The quality and price doesn't matter if you don't use it. By this I mean who cares how good the gear is if it is too heavy, to bulky, etc. and winds up sitting in your closet when you ride.

2) Price is an issue with me, but I also try and buy the best gear I can afford. Even though I hope I will never need it.

3) Where it is made, doesn't matter to me. Who makes the profits doesn't matter to me. All I care about is how well the gear I purchased will protect me, my passenger, and my family (ever think about your family and what will happen to them if you bite it?).

I say this now because when I was younger I couldn't afford anything but a helmet, gloves, and jeans (jacket too). I had one accident where I hit a piece of wood (4 x 4) in a blind corner and eventually was bounced off my sliding motorcycle. When I hit the ground I vaporized the entire back of the jacket, shirt, and a 4" square patch of skin. I was lucky as I could have died that day (I slide in to oncoming traffic and then choose to roll away form them).

I now have three different sets of riding gear. All for different weather conditions. It basically goes like this ...

Mesh (Firtgear pants & HG jacket) for 85+ degree weather.

Mesh & textile (Olympia) for 65 ~ 85 degree weather.

Textile jacket with liner and BMW City Jeans for cooler weather. The jacket can dump the liner and has a few vents, but I really don't wear it unless the temps are below 70 or I will ride at night.

I consider all the gear throwaway/disposable gear. Meaning, if it works to save my body from impact/abrasion and is damaged beyond repair then I will still consider that it did its job. Same with helmets. One good hard hit/slide and it's time for a new helmet.

Yes I am one sick bugger. I laugh at the fools wearing chaps over their jeans leaving their butt to become more exposed than they intend. They would rather look "cool" to their friends, instead of protecting what they sit on.

The only thing worse is the squids. I shudder every time I see one. For those that don't understand the term squids, it is the fools that ride around in summer wearing cutoffs, T-shirt and either sneakers or thongs. Usually they are riding what I call a crotch rocket. If they fall off, all they are going to leave behind is a smeared mark on the ground. Scares the heck out of me.

That's the point I was trying to make earlier, only better phrased. I've been in two seperate spills (one hard high side that wrecked my bike at the time, and one long low side where I slid on my side and @$& while watching my bike skidding away on it's valve cover). In each case, I got up with no broken bones or skin, only the wind knocked out of me and the aches you would get from getting slammed to the pavement no matter whose gear you're wearing. I each case, I was fully satisfied I had gotten my money's worth out of my "crap" gear and gratefully replaced it.

Interesting discussion. My 2 cents:
I wear a Roadcrafter one piece HiViz. Protection and visibility being paramont concerns. Down side? Loses it's visibility fast - gets dirty quickly and resists cleaning. Will melt on contact with hot surfaces. Leaks like a sieve and when it rains more than a sprinkle, I don a rain suit. Up side? easy on /off incourages use. Hopefully will offer protection if I need it. Will I purchase another? No! Leather is the only way to go. In the warm weather I wear a Vanson pref. yellow dyed jacket (color holding up much better than stitch). It does every thing the Stitch does, only better and if it rains - well the stitch requires a rain suit as well...................................
I do try to buy American so in spite of price, I'll go Vanson for patriotism and service.

I do try to buy American so in spite of price, I'll go Vanson for patriotism and service.

It's not patriotism if something as good or better is available at a better price elsewhere. When you take a worse deal to supposedly 'support' your own country's businesses, all you really do is insulate them from the real market and ultimately reduce their ability to compete. If American businesses want my dollar, they'd better give me as good a deal as the competition. This is one reason why American cars sucked for so many years- because people bought them for reasons OTHER than their actual merits as cars, and the sales sent the message to the manufacturers that were doing something right so they kept on making them that way. You want good products? Keep the market competitive.